Nurse Joy (Japanese: ジョーイJoy, referred to as ジョーイさんJoy-san by most characters) are kind nurses who take care of Pokémon. As revealed in Drifloon in the Wind!, Joy is not the first name of these women, but actually the family name. They are based on the in-game Pokémon Center Nurses.

In the anime

History

Kanto

Nurse Joy debuted in Pokémon Emergency. With his Pikachu critically injured from the events of the last episode, Ash rushed the Electric Mouse Pokémon to the Pokémon Center in Viridian City with the help of the Officer Jenny of the area. After healing Pikachu, Team Rocket overtook the Pokémon Center, forcing her to rely on her own Pikachu generator built inside the lab. While they hid from Team Rocket, Nurse Joy activated the computer and started to transfer the Poké Balls containing injured Pokémon to the Pokémon Center in Pewter City. The next morning, the Nurse Joy from Pewter City called and told her sister that all the Pokémon had made it safely to her center, to which the Viridian Nurse Joy was grateful.

In Sparks Fly for Magnemite, Ash went to Nurse Joy for her to take care of Pikachu since he was overcharged with electricity. Nurse Joy dismissed it as a cold and had Ash leave Pikachu with Nurse Joy for the night. Later, when the power went out, Nurse Joy became worried about the Pokémon as she told them to hang in there until the power went back on and hoped that Ash and his friends will be able to restore it. After Ash caught Muk, she thanked Ash for helping the Pokémon to survive and inspired her to become a better nurse.

In The Bridge Bike Gang, Nurse Joy was supposed to deliver medicine for injured Pokémon over in Sunnytown, but was unable to leave the Pokémon Center since she had some Pokémon to deal with. She gave Ash and his friends the medicine as they volunteered to deliver it to Sunnytown. After dealing with a bike gang, the group successfully arrived in Sunnytown. The Nurse Joy there fed it to Shellder and Shellder became well.

In A Chansey Operation, she called Ash and his friends in Dr. Proctor's office about a truck of Pokémon who were stolen by Team Rocket became injured. Since the Pokémon Center was full, an extra room in Dr. Proctor's hospital was needed.

Nurse Joy signed up for the Pokémon League Admissions Exam in The Ultimate Test to become a Pokémon Master and received testing number 3. After taking the exam, a scoreboard was shown and Nurse Joy's was near the top scorers. Later, Nurse Joy battled the instructor's Charmander with a Squirtle, and won.

Nurse Joy led an excavation crew on Fukuhara Island No. 4 in Shell Shock. A reporter interviewed Nurse Joy about the Kabuto inhabiting there. She later led them to the fossils within a cave in the island, even though Umberto warned them about not disturbing the fossils. When the island was about to get swallowed up by the tide, she boarded a raft that the crew had made and safely rafted away on it.

In The Joy of Pokémon, a tan and muscular Nurse Joy Ash and his friends met on an unnamed island went from island to island to help sick and injured Pokémon. She invited them to her local clinic for lunch. The group volunteered to help out Nurse Joy on taking care of the sick Pokémon. Later, while Joy was attempting to help baby Seel, Team Rocket arrived and trapped the group in a net. It wasn't until a giantGyarados removed the net that Joy got a chance to finally take care of the baby Seel.

Max was an assistant of Nurse Joy in Maxxed Out!. When Max and another Max were fighting, Nurse Joy broke them up.

In Crazy as a Lunatone, a Nurse Joy was possessed by a Lunatone in Volley Town. Unlike the other Nurse Joys, she didn't allow Ash and his friends to stay in a room for the night. Later, Nurse Joy went back to normal when Lunatone collapsed after using Psychic. Since Lunatone's condition became bad, Nurse Joy, with the help of the group, took Lunatone to Camerupt Point.

In Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snorunt!, a Nurse Joy ran her Pokémon Center on the snowy part of Izabe Island. A Snorunt would come by that particular Pokémon Center and take things from visitors. When Ash was in a snow cave, Nurse Joy and the others came by to pick him up. However, before Ash could reunite with Nurse Joy and the others, Team Rocket interrupted them by catching Pikachu and Snorunt. Snorunt was able to escape and Nurse Joy thought of a plan to get Pikachu back which involved Ash throwing Snorunt at Team Rocket's balloon.

This section is incomplete.Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: role in other episodes.

Two young Joys, named Marnie and Paige, appeared in Drifloon on the Wind, where it was revealed that Joy is the surname of the family, rather than the given name of each individual woman. Their mother, of course, was an ordinary Nurse Joy.

Unova

Nurse Joy, like Ash, received a redesign when the Best Wishes series began, as well as a change of clothes. All Nurse Joys in Unova have this new design.

In A Sandile Gusher of Change!, Ash learned about the Nurse Joys with the redesigns who were completely different than the ones he saw previously in his travels.

Decolore Islands

After foiling another one of Team Rocket's plans in Danger, Sweet as Honey!, Ash and his friends headed to the Pokémon Center to have their Pokémon healed. After arriving, Nurse Joy explained that the mountains have many dangerous Pokémon such as Beedrill and Ursaring and noted that it would have been safer to go through the coastline route. After which, Audino informed them that the honey and dessert were ready. Nurse Joy then invited them in and began serving them desserts.

In The Island of Illusions!, a rather elderly Nurse Joy first appeared overhearing the group's conversation on the mysterious shadow they just saw. Later, she appeared protecting the group from a giantHeatmor and disappeared along with the Heatmor and the mysterious fog. After successfully reaching a rather desolate Pokémon Center and curing Iris's Axew's sleep, the group encountered her again where she revealed herself to be an older Nurse Joy tasked with the special duty of investigating established Pokémon Centers. She explained that she had been receiving reports of a Pokémon Center operating illegally on the island, which is why she was deployed to investigate. When Zoroark created an illusion of the past and explained the reasons behind illegally keeping the Pokémon Center open all this time, a moved Nurse Joy agreed to keep the Center running for the wild Pokémon and asks for Zoroark's assistance in doing so, to which it happily agrees. Later, she and the Illusion Fox Pokémon bid farewell to the group as they set off on their new adventure.

A Nurse Joy living on Torom Island appeared in To Catch a Rotom!. She explained that the Rotom on the island find the local power plant's electricity delicious, so the lights were always flickering on and off. In addition, the island's Rotom used to play pranks on the people of the island, so the locals created a playground of electrical devices where the Rotom could play without bothering anyone. Professor Oak then decided to go with Ash and his friends to this electrical playground, where they hoped to see a Rotom.

In Capacia Island UFO!, Nurse Joy first appeared with her Audino, greeting Ash, Iris and Cilan upon their arrival in the Pokémon Center. Next morning, as Ash looked for help after seeing Iris, Axew and Cilan's faces turned odd, she revealed her face to have turned odd as well, much to his horror. She is then seen gathering the townspeople along with Audino and Officer Jenny to listen to what Beheeyem has to say.

In Go, Go Gogoat!, Nurse Joy participated in Alexa's recording. She explained how the latest equipment functioned at twice the normal speed and allowed her to repair any equipment or medicine she might need for a Pokémon's treatment. She was then seen carrying Ash and his friends's Poké Balls for a thorough inspection of their Pokémon.

In The Clumsy Crier Quiets the Chaos!, Nurse Joy dealt with a clumsy Wigglytuff. As a result of a Salamence going on a rampage, she had to deal with many injured Pokémon, including a Pokémon Breeder's Teddiursa. Nurse Joy told a tale to the group about how Wigglytuff became her helpers in the Kalos region. Team Rocket came by and stole Pikachu and Wigglytuff. They accidentally wake up the same Salamence from before. Nurse Joy and the group came by to retrieve Pikachu and Wigglytuff. Nurse Joy attempted to calm Salamence but it attacked with Flamethrower. Wigglytuff protected her from Salamence's attack, retelling the tale that another Wigglytuff did with the Flygon. Wigglytuff was able to calm Salamence and Salamence managed to defeat Team Rocket with Hyper Beam.

In A Giga Battle with Mega Results!, Nurse Joy searched for a Mega Stone for her Audino. While doing so, her leg became stuck in a fissure. She was unable to get out until Ash and his friends found her stuck there. Using Clemont's Aipom Arm, the group was able to get Nurse Joy out of the fissure. As a reward, she took the group to the Pokémon Center she worked in. Inside, an Audino she was working with did not get along with her as she left without telling it where she was going. When a Trainer was rushing in with an injured Makuhita, both Nurse Joy and Audino put aside their differences and treated the Makuhita right away, only to go back to fighting again. Nurse Joy revealed that their fighting occurred ever since the Head Nurse put Audino with her. Outside, Team Rocket broke in the Pokémon Center and stole all the Poké Balls. Nurse Joy took on Team Rocket with Audino by Mega Evolving it. After using Mega Audino's Heal Pulse, Ash was able to defeat Team Rocket with Pikachu's Thunderbolt. As a result, Nurse Joy and Audino both got along with each other.

Character

Nurse Joy is not a single entity. Rather, there are many Joys who work as nurses across the various regions of the Pokémon world. As a rule, Nurse Joys are kind, earnest, honest Pokémon nurses who take care of sick and injured Pokémon, but will confront a Pokémon Trainer if they are not properly caring for their Pokémon.

Nurse Joys are all extremely similar-looking relatives. They are not entirely identical, though aside from themselves, it seems that Brock is the only one who can tell them apart. However, each Nurse Joy will have a different color cross on her hat that indicates which location she works at.

There are several notable Nurse Joys who appear vastly different from the others. A Nurse Joy acts as the Pokémon League inspector in Showdown at Dark City, her first appearance as anything but an ordinary Nurse Joy. Another Nurse Joy living in the Orange Archipelago has made her career instead as an archaeologist, leading an expedition to Fukuhara Island No. 4 in Shell Shock. A muscle-bound, kayak-paddling Nurse Joy who also lives in the archipelago was featured, along with her befriended giantMagikarp, in The Joy of Pokémon. Other Nurse Joys living on the islands have a noticeably darker skin tone than their mainland counterparts, likely due to living in a more tropical region. In The Island of Illusions!, a Nurse Joy appears as a Pokémon Center investigator, tasked with the investigation of illegally operating Pokémon Centers. Not unlike the Pokémon League inspector Nurse Joy, her first appearance did not allude to her true identity, and she was visibly older when she finally revealed herself.

There is a similarity between the families of Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, Don George and Porter. Fans have speculated about some sort of relation or deeper connection; however, the only thing known for sure about the four families is that they are on good terms.

Pokémon

Other

This article is missing information on this character's English voice actor and Japanese voice actor.You can help by adding this information.

This listing is for Pokémon various individual Nurse Joys have had during the course of the anime.

Pikachu (multiple)

Nurse Joy uses many of these Pikachu to power the back-up generator in the Viridian City Pokémon Center when the main power gets cut. After charging the generators for a bit, the Pikachu come out to the main lobby and jump on top of Ash's Pikachu, who is in critical condition. Using Thunder Shock, they both attack the pursuing Team Rocket and heal Ash's Pikachu at the same time.

Like all residents of Bloomingvale, Nurse Joy owns a Sunflora that she received in a trade from Cyrus. Sonrisa's Sunflora, Sunny, used to play with Gwendela when it was with Cyrus, but became gloomy after it was traded. Sunny was led to Gwendela and soon started to dance. It was not given a nickname in the Japanese version.

The Nurse Joy who lives inside the Ice Path runs a Pokémon Center that takes care of several Ice-type Pokémon—a Jynx being one of them. Jynx is Nurse Joy's main helper in the center, much like the Chansey of most other centers.

As a Torchic, it was supposed to be given to a beginning Trainer in Hoenn. It was a crafty and quite strong, by pretending to cry in front of Pikachu and managing to defeat Corphish. It gained so much experience that it evolved into a Combusken. Once it evolved, it could no longer be given away, and so it stayed in the Pokémon Center.

A Nurse Joy from the Pokémon Inspection Agency owns a Latias. She was used to battle against Forrest's Rhyperior in the Pewter Gym, in order to determine whether the Gym should be closed or not. Although Latias won the battle, Nurse Joy was impressed by Forrest's skill and spared the Pewter Gym.

Befriended

Magikarp → Gyarados

Nurse Joy befriended a Gyarados when it was a giantMagikarp. It first appeared as a Magikarp when it jumped out of the water in front of Ash and his friends. Nurse Joy appeared and fed it tablets, saying the Pokémon that live on the islands are too small for a Pokémon Center and need medicine if sick. It was later revealed that Nurse Joy had known Magikarp since she was small and found it washed up on the shore; she later cared for it as it grew and grew. The Magikarp later appeared when Team Rocket captured Ash and his friends, including Nurse Joy, stopping them from helping a very sick Seel. Magikarp appeared and rammed Team Rocket's submarine, then suddenly evolved into a Gyarados and defeated Team Rocket.

Zoroark first appeared as a Giant Pokémon in front of the cruise Ash and his friends were on. Next, it appeared on Mahora Islet as a giantHeatmor, creating a fire in a forest with its Flamethrower. Its next trick was creating an illusion of a giant Meowth scaring Team Rocket this time. Then at the Pokémon Center located at Mahora Islet, it was revealed that as a Zorua, it had befriended a Nurse Joy in the past. Eventually, the two met each other again in the present. In the end, Zoroark was seen along with Nurse Joy waving goodbye to Ash and the others as they were leaving the island.

Stephanie's father's Treecko was looked after by Ash and Max. She seemed to take a liking to Ash's Treecko in that she held something in her mouth, in her case a flower. She was picked by Stephanie's father because she had nowhere to go.

Pokémon

Trivia

A photo of the Nurse Joys from Kalos

Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, and Don George all have Japanese names that begin with the kana ジ, while their English names all start with the same sound, dʒ. They also all happen to be part of a large, extended family.

Every Nurse Joy in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova can be easily told apart by the color of the cross on their hat, while Nurse Joys in the Kalos region are told apart by the color of the badge on their lapel. Colors can repeat in different regions, however.